Craig Mathieson

The line between covering a major news event and capitalising on it is a fluid one, open to all manner of interpretation. But whatever way you look at it, Channel Seven's Sunday Night program appears to have crossed that line with its report on actor Hugh Sheridan's dash to Nepal to find his missing brother in the wake of a devastating earthquake that has left thousands dead and a country in ruins.

In the segment, presented by Seven's national medical editor Dr Andrew Rochford, every genuine emotion was matched by a questionable technique, every act of giving was framed by the television coverage recording it, every instinct to help a family member was contrasted by an entire community in desperate need of assistance. Hopefully, the piece raised awareness and the urgent need for aid, but the means to that end appear poorly motivated.

With the death toll from the 7.8 earthquake in the Himalayan nation approaching 7000 people, a heavily promoted report that was focused on Sheridan's search for his missing brother Zachary, who had been trekking towards Mount Everest's base camp, appeared to make the tragedy a mere backdrop for the story of a missing Australian with a famous sibling. Such a distorted lens can trivialise immense loss.

Seven has confirmed that the program, through executive producer Steve Taylor, invited the former Packed to the Rafters star and his brother Tom to join a news crew heading for Nepal, but it remains unclear why they accepted. Did they need Seven's news credentials to get into the disaster zone? Was Nepal opposed to individuals flying into the country because they would add to the chaos?

Whatever the motivation or bargain, Hugh and Tom Sheridan learnt when their flight touched down in Kathmandu that Zachary was safe in a rural village, having made contact through social media. At that point the report becomes about assisting in the nascent recovery effort, with Nepal's emergency services overwhelmed.

I don't doubt Hugh Sheridan and Andrew Rochford, once in Nepal, did what they could to help, but the reference point of a television camera constantly distorts their motivations and actions. Even the visual language added manufactured drama where none was required, with the first shot of Sheridan a noble profile. It's the natural instinct of current affairs programs to accentuate already obvious emotion, and that made for the queasy sensation of manufactured heroism and compassion.

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Amid scenes of bodies being stretchered away and shocked locals, Sheridan went to work helping recover valued artwork from devastated temples. "Locals joined in, backpackers, even the army," said Rochford, as if everyone had been standing around prior to that, but once they followed the "charismatic can-do" Aussie's example progress was made, even as their inspiration paused to be interviewed.

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Sheridan also claimed that the local he'd asked how he could assist said international rescue crews were stealing art from the ruins. "I don't know what countries they are," said Sheridan, and that is a damning assertion to make, one that could tarnish the entire international rescue mission. Sunday Night's report did not follow up the claim, or indicate if they'd even attempted to verify it.

Likewise Rochford, in a trip to rural communities west of Kathmandu, treated about 50 people in areas that hadn't received medical help in six days. The suffering was obvious, as people were carried to him for assessment. But it didn't need his commentary for the camera on their fate: "the house fell down on her," he said at one point, as distress clouded his patient's face.

"We're fine," Hugh Sheridan declared when Zach arrived in Kathmandu to reunite before the lurking camera, and it was awkward to balance that sense of resolution – the mission accomplished moment – with what remained in a state of nightmarish flux around them.

Seven can point out that the segment was watched by a capital city audience alone of more than 1 million people, who could contribute to disaster relief efforts. But Sunday Night directed those who wanted to donate to their website and Facebook page for details, when they could have simply plugged worldvision.com.au or oxfam.org.au, two of the many charities taking donations.

The show, yet again, had inserted itself between those who needed help and those trying to deliver it. It didn't, yet again, need to be there.